You are hereOut of town cyclist assaulted and arrested by APD officer, and the investigation starts...
Out of town cyclist assaulted and arrested by APD officer, and the investigation starts...
Update: Rob D'Amico of the LOBV sent out the following call for attorney assistance earlier this afternoon:
On Friday, two cyclists were arrested for obstructing traffic, officially obstructing a highway passage, class B misdemeanor, $2,000 bond. Both disputed the claim. One, a local cyclist, was bailed out by friends. The other, a guy from San Antonio, is still in jail four days later. The cyclist who was bailed out noted that he talked this person–Richard Polendo–who said he couldn’t reach anyone in San Antonio and didn’t know anyone locally to raise bail.
While the $425 bail needed to release him isn’t impossible to handle, we don’t want to be in a position of bailing someone out without knowing anything about him or his circumstances…not to mention being liable for the full bond.
Are there any attorneys out there that would be willing to at least look into the situation to see why he’s not afforded a PR bond or why he can’t bail himself out?
Here’s why I care and my concerns:
1) Both cyclists were tackled and knocked off their bikes by officers. Both deny that they were “corking” the intersections. I ride CM maybe once a year at the most, just to see what’s happening first hand. I would hate to think that myself or someone else innocent of doing nothing more than participating would be subject to arrest and a fairly high bond, not to mention being physically knocked to the pavement.
2) I have seen enough of late on other complaints that I am confident that there are a small number of officers out there who are actively out to get cyclists, regardless of the seriousness or legitimacy of their infractions.
3) There could be several legitimate reasons why Polendo has not been given a PR bond, but I personally would like to ensure that there are not other, more vindictive reasons.
If anyone can be of assistance, please call me directly:
Rob D’Amico
President, League of Bicycling Voters
627-1343
I'm actually just posting this for posterity, as a lawyer has already answered the call, Richard's being released!
I received the following email from Talib (the other arrested cyclist) yesterday, regarding Richard Polendo. Turns out he's an out-of-towner who just happened upon our Critical Mass ride and was in the wrong place at the wrong time:
Richie (Richard Polendo) is from San Antonio and up here looking for work I think. He said he happened to come up on the group around the campus area and joined the ride. He said all of his friends and family are in San Antonio or have 210 numbers, meaning Im pretty sure he cant contact anyone (The jail only allows you to make local or collect calls. Most cell phone services do not accept any sort of collect calls, which is asinine because hardly anyone has landlines anymore). He's still in jail according to the Travis County records. I think he mentioned going on satx cm rides, so maybe we could try finding some of his friends down there?
I know that when I was arrested, about 10 of my friends went to the jail to see me right after it happened. The police refused to let them give me even a piece of paper with their phone numbers on it. My fear is that Richie was arrested up here and has no way to let his family and friends know where he's at.
Here's what I first heard about Richie's arrest, to provide some backstory:
Right before Talib was knocked off his bike, I saw a police officer sprint into the crowd of bikes as we were turning onto Congress. The cop chased a biker up onto the sidewalk and then tackled him while he was still on the bike. I don't know if it was that Richie guy, but it was pretty brutal. I'm willing to provide an account of what I saw, if it would help anyone. Do you know anything about this guy?
I'm going to try to find out more information about this incident (Case ID: 2009-2402301), but from the look of things, he's still in jail. Talib has already been released (Case ID: 2009-2402288), but this is just the beginning of his troubles as he has to report to the court in the near future for more drama. This is some bullshit, and I'm really not happy to see innocent cyclists assaulted and detained unjustly by our police force, who are supposed to be protecting us, not attacking us. I've sent a letter to Lee Davila and Art Acevedo of the APD, as well as Councilman Chris Riley, trying to get more information about these cases. So far Chris has been the only one to respond, but he said I should be contacted by and APD representative today to discuss what can be done to file formal complaints against the overly aggressive police officers. I'll be sure to keep y'all informed as to what I find out.
From the ACA mailing list –
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:20:22 -0500
From: Jay Warren
Rob,
Just to let you know, I went to the jail and met with Richard
Polendo. He has been there for three full days. I talked to the
judge and he agreed to release Richard on a personal bond, with
my assurance that he would appear in court. He was charged with
a Class B misdemeanor which carries the same penalty as DWI (up
to 6 months in jail). If anyone was a witness to the arrest, I
would like to talk to them. The police say that Richard “fell”
from his bike, but it sounds more like he was knocked off of his
bike. They also referred to CM as an “anarchist bike group.”
Please contact me at jwarrenREMOVE_ME[@]REMOVE_MEhowrybreen.com
if you have any information regarding the arrest and
circumstances.
Jay Paul Warren
Howry Breen L.L.P.
1900 Pearl Street
Austin, Texas
(512) 474-7300
when APD impounds it, like a car is he going to have to pay some excessive base fee + more excessive daily fees to get it out? i hope they didn't damage it when they took Richard down.
http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/09/01/alert-legal-help-needed-for-out-...
I called Rob from LBOV to let him know what i found out about why Richard was declined PR bond since that was a question posed in his previous letter. It sounds like there some progress being made in the background, and if all goes well he'll have an update for us tonight.
twitter.com/atxhipsters
here's an interesting tidbit about what happens when you file a complaint with the police monitor's office:
if you file a formal complaint you will never find out what happens to the offending police officer. you have to file an informal complaint to hear back from the offending officer's supervisor. something about the english language tells me that an /in/formal complaint doesn't carry the weight of a formal complaint..
Travis did away with the list years ago. She said they discovered if there's someone they don't want to see, the inmate/hostage will let them know...
He didn't qualify for PR bond due to short time in austin and unable to get ahold of only contact he provided... I called the jail to inquire about giving him some money to purchase a phone card. They said i could drop by w/ cash money and he can purchase phone cards in amounts of 10/20/50$. Here's the kicker, he would have to wait until sunday to place an order for it, it would then be delivered monday. This system is so eff'd up!
This is craziness, and maybe we're missing some details here, but i've known 1st time DWI offenders that have been out by morning on 20$ PR bond. I'm def interested in what APD has to say, and any details on how we can rally behind this kid and if need be attempt to collect 5-20$ from people at different upcoming bike functions to bust this kid out of jail.
twitter.com/atxhipsters
wish there was a way to help, or at least get more publicity out to avoid this situation in the future!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Jessica
bike nerd fo' life, yo
... If he can't call home, go visit him at the jail, get names and numbers of people to call, and call on his behalf. Looks like, based on his name, you can't even visit him until Thursday night (wtf?) but I'm guessing an attorney can see him sooner than that. Though really, if this is why he's still in jail, because everybody he would call is long distance and/or can't accept collect calls, THAT'S REALLY FUCKED UP and that needs to be fixed, pronto. I hope that's not the problem.
... You can give him money to buy a phone card and he can call home that way. (The sheriff's office has ways of getting the money to them. Though I'm not sure they can do this if you're only in jail for a short period -- their web site isn't clear, and I've never done this before.)
... Take up a collection and help with his legal fees. It's entirely possible that he can't get out because his friends can't come up with the money. Based on what I've heard, he's innocent of the charges, but that won't prevent him from needing legal representation. Really, we should be doing this for Talib and him.
It looks like Rob D'Amico (and the LOBV?) are working on at least some of these angles, based on an email he just sent out to the bicycleaustin mailing list looking for an attorney. If you can help, he might be a good person to talk to. (And give the LOBV some money if you haven't already. They're good guys.)
Joining lobv now. This is fubar.
i don't know about travis county but in williamson you have to make a list of people who can visit you, others are turned down. i would put my money on the rules being the same if i was a gamblin man.